USA - The US Federal Reserve's third round of bond-buying could ultimately rival the size of its first huge quantitative easing, which was widely seen as boosting growth. The sheer scale of the program and the radical shift in policy it marks will shape the legacy of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, whose term may end before the buying is through.

FRANCE - Half of France’s drugs are ‘useless’ and five percent are dangerous, a book by two top French doctors claimed. The duo believes the pharmaceutical industry is forcing ineffective drugs on the market, costing taxpayers up to ten billion euros a year. The duo reviewed 4,000 French drugs and found that 50 percent were ‘useless,’ 20 percent were ‘badly tolerated’ and five percent had adverse effects.

AFGHANISTAN - The Taliban have announced that Prince Harry was the main target of an attack last night on his base in Afghanistan, which left two US Marines dead and others injured. Insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles stormed heavily-fortified Camp Bastion, the British HQ in Helmand, in a deadly assault on the ‘aviation area’. A commander for the radical Islamic movement told Sky News the Prince was their primary target and secondly as revenge for an amateur anti-Muslim video recently posted on YouTube.

CHINA - Massive demonstrations against Japan over its control of disputed East China Sea islands hit more than two dozen cities in China, occasionally turning violent. Protesters burned Japanese flags and clashed with paramilitary police at the Japanese Embassy. The angry mobs threw rocks, bottles, eggs and traffic cones at the embassy. Many fear that the increased violence could backfire ahead of a Communist Party leadership succession.

CHINA/JAPAN - China "must strictly be on guard to prevent harm to Japanese citizens and companies", Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told Fuji TV on Sunday, as anti-Japanese protests swept the mainland for the second day. The protests erupted Saturday after the Japanese government decided to buy the disputed Senkaku islands in the East China Sea from a private Japanese owner. China, Japan, and Taiwan have all claimed the island territories, which may contain oil reserves.

USA - Ratings firm Egan-Jones cut its credit rating on the US government to "AA-" from "AA," citing its opinion that quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve would hurt the US economy and the country's credit quality. The Fed on Thursday said it would pump $40 billion into the US economy each month until it saw a sustained upturn in the weak jobs market. In its downgrade, the firm said that issuing more currency and depressing interest rates through purchasing mortgage-backed securities does little to raise the US's real gross domestic product, but reduces the value of the dollar.

SUDAN - Angry protesters in the Sudanese capital Khartoum attacked the German Embassy on Friday, setting fire to parts of the building. They also tore down the German flag and raised an Islamist banner. The violence was part of a wave of protests against an anti-Islam film across the Muslim world. Following Friday prayers, thousands of protesters in the Sudanese capital Khartoum attacked the embassies of Germany and Britain, outraged by a film that insults the Prophet Muhammad.

AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST - Protesters angered by a film mocking Islam have attacked the German and British embassies in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Demonstrators started fires and tore down the German flag, raising an Islamist banner in its place. In the Lebanese city of Tripoli, one person was killed as demonstrators set fire to a KFC fast-food restaurant. Five people were injured in protests in Cairo, state media said. There are also clashes in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

LEBANON - Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in Lebanon with a peace message, saluting the Arab Spring and calling for an end to the conflict in neighbouring Syria. His three-day visit marks the first papal trip to the country in 15 years. During his stay, the pontiff will meet politicians and leaders from Lebanon's 18 religious groups. Christians make up 40% of the country's population. The pontiff described the Arab Spring as "a desire for more democracy, for more freedom, for more cooperation and for a renewed Arab identity". He also called for an end to the conflict there, saying fundamentalism was "always a falsification of religion".

PARIS, FRANCE/LONDON, UK/BERLIN, GERMANY - Government advisors in Berlin are demanding a rapid expansion of German-French cooperation in the military and arms industry sectors, to prevent the creation of a Paris-London Axis.

WESTMINSTER, UK - In PMQs (Prime Ministers Question Time) yesterday there was, despite there being many questions, no mention of a hugely significant speech made by the President of the European Commission. Jose Manuel Barroso's remarks – a call for the EU to turn itself into a "federation" – will reverberate around the continent, although they do not seem to have made it as far as London, SW1.

UK - Filled with tales of violence, sexual intrigue, marital strife and human misery, the plot lines of EastEnders have gripped and scandalised its audience in equal measure. But last night one of the BBC soap opera’s top producers claimed that the main inspiration for its gritty and often controversial storylines is the Bible.

INDONESIA - A strong earthquake hit off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia on Friday, the US Geological Survey reported. The 6.2-magnitude shook the Kepulauan Mentawai region. Its epicenter was 760 kilometers (470 miles) west-northwest of the capital, Jakarta, at a depth of 20 kilometers, according to the USGS. Last month, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake hit Palu city on the island of Sulawesi, killing at least six people. Indonesia is on the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

EGYPT - The US embassy in Cairo called out the Muslim Brotherhood on Twitter over differences between English and Arabic tweets about violent protests against an anti-Islamic video. The Muslim Brotherhood’s official English-language Twitter account @Ikwanweb reposted a message from the group’s deputy head, Khairat El-Shater, saying he was “relieved none of @USembassycairo staff was hurt” and expressing his desire that relations withstand the “turbulence” of events... The Brotherhood’s Arabic feed included messages that praised the protests, such as “Egyptians revolt for the Prophet’s victory in front of US embassy.”

CHINA/JAPAN - Six Chinese ships entered Japanese waters near a group of disputed islets claimed by both Beijing and Tokyo early on Friday, ignoring the Japanese coast guard's orders to vacate its territorial waters. The first two ships in the battalion entered the disputed waters at around 21:20 GMT on Thursday. After a few hours of “patrolling,” three of the ships have left the disputed waters, while another three stayed, local media reported. The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that six of its surveillance ships had entered the waters near the islands. So far, Japanese border patrol ships have not taken any active measures against the Chinese vessels.